Adhesive tape dispensers are well known with diverse constructions targeted upon specific needs. However, the general need is that the free end of the reeled length material is separated form the main body of the stored tape, usually held on a roll or reel, such that a length of the tape may be suitably applied for the desired purpose and then cut. The objective is to ensure that the free end then remaining as part of the stored tape does not fall back upon the roll, thus requiring fresh and often difficult separation therefrom before further tape may be dispensed effectively without difficulty.
Various attempts have been made to alleviate this problem with proposals forming the subject matter of earlier patents. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,450 to Robinson discloses a trapezoidally-shaped roller which contacts the tape in its partially unrolled condition and effectively brakes the tape and prevents the free end from returning to the roll once cutting of a length has occurred.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,942 to Lin describes an adhesive tape dispenser including a spring-loaded lever which serves to hold the tape against a roller to prevent roll back, the lever being releasable when it is desired to unwind further stored tape from the roll.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,380,693 to Huang illustrates a desktop tape dispenser comprising a multiplicity of parts including a roller over which tape unwound from the roll of stored tape is reeved, the length of cut being set and controlled by an indexing mechanism ensuring that tape roll back onto the stored tape roll does not occur.
These examples of prior art are targeted at the dispensing of adhesive tape only and may be effective in that regard, but length material may be of a textile or indeed metallic character in web form in the absence of any adhesive. The web form may be as in a ribbon or band, or in the case of metal, may be wire. Accordingly the free end successively has to be secured in some way to the reel or roll upon which it is stored awaiting further unwinding and dispensing for the purpose of cutting a desired length. Some such materials may have inherent springiness or at the other extreme may be limp in character, thus exacerbating the problem of controlling and locking the free end of the material pending further unwinding. Obviously, some springy materials may have a predisposition to move away from the reel or roll and occasion unwinding and consequent loosening of the wound material on the reel, thus causing further difficulty. With limp materials, the free end often twists causing creasing and unraveling can also result.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved and efficacious dispenser for length material with the versatility to handle many and varied types of length material.